In trying to bowl out Manmohan Singh with his quota googly, the HRD minister has ended up ruffling feathers in 10 Janpath. A DNA Analysis
NEW DELHI: HRD minister Arjun Singh may ultimately turn out to be his own worst enemy. In trying to bowl out Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with his quota googly, he has ended up ruffling feathers in 10 Janpath.
Congress leaders who did not want to be identified said Sonia Gandhi is upset with the HRD Minister on several counts. One, he dropped the quota bombshell without prior consultations, either within the government or within the party. Two, he almost queered the pitch for Gandhi by making his announcement in the midst of her bye-election in Rae Bareli.
Given the caste composition of Rae Bareli, the reservation issue had the potential of upsetting Gandhi’s electoral calculations and her bid to get re-elected with a higher margin than last time. The constituency has around 22% upper castes, with Brahmins constituting the largest segment, an estimated 28% OBCs and roughly 35% Scheduled Castes.
If Gandhi had backed Singh on his quota move, she could have alienated the upper castes. If she didn’t, she would have antagonised the OBCs and SCs. She chose the safest option, which was to maintain a studied silence on the issue.
The fact that Singh almost upset her apple cart in Rae Bareli must be particularly galling for Gandhi because she had just renominated him to the Rajya Sabha against all advice to the contrary. The renomination upset Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who considers the HRD minister a thorn in his side.
Singh is regarded in Congress circles as a Gandhi loyalist. Consequently, most Congress leaders find it difficult to believe that he deliberately wanted to muddy her bye-election. But his timing has raised questions about his motives. Or maybe in aiming singlemindedly at the PM, like his namesake in the Mahabharatha, Singh somehow lost sight of the fact that his arrow could harm the one person he cannot afford to antagonise. The HRD minister has little support in the party, which makes him totally dependent on Gandhi’s goodwill.
The Congress has traditionally supported the reservation principle, starting with Nehru who pushed the constitutional amendment in 1951 for SC/ST quotas. Gandhi’s initial hesitation on the issue has now made it impossible for the party to earn badly needed brownie points with the crucial OBC vote. On the other hand, the Congress may have ended up alienating the upper castes, who are crucial for its revival in UP.
Congress circles feel that the sensitive nature of the issue on which Singh staked his gambit has made it impossible for the PM or Gandhi to remove him. In fact, the government has been forced to go along with Singh’s proposal. At the same time, many party leaders believe that this is not the last word on the issue. For that, they will have to wait till Gandhi breaks her silence.
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